


Countdown

by dandyline_wine



Category: Supernatural RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-04-02
Updated: 2009-04-02
Packaged: 2020-11-27 22:23:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20955869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dandyline_wine/pseuds/dandyline_wine
Summary: 37 100-word domestic drabbles





	Countdown

“You talked about our text messages in an interview, man? That’s so gay.”

Jensen rolls his eyes. “I was just trying to prove a point.”

“What point?” Jared asks, incredulously. “That you save all of my text messages?”

Jensen ignores him. “Do you want to order a pizza?”

Jared lets out a loud sigh. “Seriously, Jen.”

“What?” Jensen says, and Jared can tell he’s annoyed. “What’s the big deal?”

His eyes widen. “Now everyone’s going to think I’m in love with you!”

Jensen shrugs. “So?” And then, “You are.”

Jared blinks then gives him a slow smile. “Yeah. Good point.”

\---

When it had all started, back in the beginning, Jared had no clue what to do.

After the first time they fumbled around in Jensen’s trailer, awkwardly shy, Jared looked at him with wide eyes. “What next?” he asked, nervous. Jensen had just smiled.

When Jensen moved in and carried the last box upstairs, all Jared could do was blink and say, “So what happens now?” Jensen shook his head, grinning to himself.

Now, they get picked up for season five and Jared’s still unsure. “Now what?” he asks.

“This,” Jensen says, arms spread wide. “Here and now, it’s this.”

\---

“How come you never take out the trash?” Jared grumbles, tying off the black Hefty bag.

Jensen doesn’t look up and keeps reading the back of the spaghetti box. “I’m hoping you’re kidding.”

“No,” Jared says. “I’m not.”

Jensen cocks his head and blinks. “I do the dishes, Jared. I clean the bathroom. I do your laundry.”

“I do laundry,” he says defensively.

“When’s the last time you did laundry? The day before I moved in?”

Jared shrugs.

“Yeah, okay. Take out the trash.”

“You’re not the boss of me,” he says.

“Jared,” Jensen warns.

Jared takes out the trash.

\---

“Drink this,” Jared tells him. He sets the apple juice on Jensen’s nightstand.

Jensen just looks at it then buries his face in his pillow. “No,” he says.

He pushes the glass a little closer and sits on the edge of the bed. “C’mon,” he tries again. “Starve a fever, that’s what your mom said.”

Jensen finally looks up at him, eyes wide. “You called my mom?”

Jared shrugs, unapologetic.

“Great,” Jensen mutters. “Now she’ll fly all the way up here to nurse me back to health.”

Jared’s quiet. “Nah,” he says finally, hesitant. “She said she trusted me enough.”

\---

“So,” Jensen says, sprawled out on the couch of his trailer.

“So,” Jared says back, after Jensen doesn’t elaborate.

Jensen clears his throat. “So I have a family reunion next month. I’m flying home.”

Jared frowns, looking genuinely confused. “Okay,” he says slowly. “And?”

“And,” Jensen continues hesitantly. “I was wondering if you’d want to come. If you’re not busy or whatever.” He doesn’t make eye contact.

Jared blinks. “Oh. Uh.” He thinks for a minute. “Think it’ll be weird?”

Jensen shrugs. “Maybe. But I also think they’ll like you.”

He grins. “I’m there,” Jared answers. “Of course I’m there.”

\---

“I’m not watching another stupid documentary on Stalin,” Jared says, sitting on the living room floor. “I’m tired of The History Channel. Plus, you’ve seen it before.”

“Whatever,” Jensen retorts. “Your lameass home repair shows are boring. We don’t even have anything to repair.”

“I’m not spending my entire weekend fighting over this,” Jared says. “I bought the TV, I get to pick.”

“Yeah, well, the cable bill’s in my name,” he says, eyebrow raised. “I win.”

They end up falling asleep on the couch, Buffy playing in the background and Jensen curled into him. “Nope,” Jared smiles. “I win.”

\---

There’s one piece of pizza left, still sitting in the box in the middle of the table. They both stare at it.

“I’ll wrestle you for it,” Jared suggests.

“No way,” Jensen says quickly. “You always win and then it always ends with you trying to manhandle me upstairs.”

Jared shrugs and doesn’t even look ashamed. They stare at the pizza for another minute.

“Tell you what,” Jared says eventually. “I’ll let you win if you let me manhandle you upstairs.”

Jensen pretends to think about it.

They’re not even halfway up the steps before Jensen forgets about the pizza.

\---

Sleeping in is one of Jensen’s favorite things to do. It pretty much beats everything else.

“I’m doing nothing today,” he tells Jared as he walks into the kitchen. “Nothing. All day.”

Jared blinks. “I’ve been up for three hours, waiting for you to get up so that we could do something.”

Jensen picks up the cup of coffee that Jared set out for him. “Do what?” he asks, yawning.

He shrugs. “I don’t know,” he says. “Something.”

Jensen sighs. “Okay, fine.”

When Jared grins like he just won the lottery, Jensen thinks that it’s even better than sleeping in.

\---

Jensen’s drunk. Jared shuts the front door behind them and watches Jensen stumble towards the stairs.

“Dude, you are wasted,” he laughs.

“Shut up,” Jensen says, leaning on the wall.

Jared shakes his head. “I’m gonna let the dogs out. Think you can make it upstairs all by yourself?”

“No,” he says.

Jared laughs and heads outside while Jensen struggles with his boots.

When he comes back in fifteen minutes later, Jensen is patiently sitting on the stairs.

“What?” he says defensively. “I wanted to wait for you.”

Jared’s quiet for a moment. “Yeah,” he says. “I’m okay with that.”

\---

They have a bad day filming, long and tiring. When they get home, Jensen grabs a broom and starts to clean the kitchen. Jared sits on the counter and watches him.

“It usually helps wind me down,” Jensen says by way of an explanation, even though Jared doesn’t ask him for one. “It’s relaxing.”

Jared just shrugs and doesn’t say anything.

He digs around the closet for a dust pan and Jared goes on staring, taking everything in.

“What?” Jensen asks, turning around to face him.

“Nothing,” he answers. “Just watching you.” Helps wind me down, Jared thinks. It’s relaxing.

\---

“Everyone’s going to the bar,” Jared tells him one Friday night. “Let’s go.”

Jensen shrugs and continues to push around some Tupperware containers in the fridge. “Want a beer?” he asks.

Jared laughs. “There’s beer at the bar, Jensen.”

Jensen shrugs again, grabbing a bottle for himself. They have to monitor themselves at the bar and it gets tiring. They always have to be careful and tonight, Jensen’s tired.

He heads towards the couch, hears Jared follow him. Jared opens his own bottle, sitting close to Jensen and giving him a smile. They never have to be careful at home.

\---

There’s a new girl on set and Jared’s inexplicably irritated.

“You crack me up when do this,” Jensen says.

“Do what?” he asks, pretending to be oblivious.

Jensen rolls his eyes. “When you act like you’ve got something to worry about.”

Jared doesn’t say anything, just watches some crew members walk by.

“Stop acting like an idiot,” Jensen says quietly. Jared thinks it sounds a whole hell of a lot like I love you.

Jared clears his throat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, just as quietly. He hopes it sounds a lot like Yeah, me too.

\---

Jared makes him breakfast in bed and Jensen thinks it’s pretty much the sappiest thing he’s ever done.

“What’s the occasion?” he asks, yawning and sounding groggy.

“No occasion,” Jared answers. “Just felt like it.”

Jensen smiles and looks at the semi-blackened toast, the runny oatmeal, the watered-down coffee. “Looks good,” is all he says. “Thanks.”

“There’s some waffles,” Jared tells him, gesturing to another tray. “And some orange juice.”

Jensen looks at him and thinks about how lucky he is. Sometimes he wonders what Jared sees in him.

“Thanks,” he says again. Not just for the breakfast, he thinks.

\---

They spend a Saturday morning watching a Saved by the Bell marathon, debating over which was better: Zack’s hair or his cell phone.

“Please tell me you didn’t have Zack Morris hair in high school,” Jensen pleads. “If you did, I’d seriously have to reconsider this relationship.”

“You would not,” Jared says by way of an answer, rolling his eyes.

“I would,” he argues. “I’d get over you fast.”

“No,” Jared sighs. “I did not. We’re safe for now.”

“Okay, good,” Jensen says. Yeah, they’re safe, he thinks. He doesn’t think there’ll ever be a day he’ll get over Jared.

\---

Jensen goes shopping and reluctantly picks up a box of Cocoa Puffs.

“Yes,” Jared says, fist pumping. “My favorite.”

He inhales an entire bowl before Jensen’s done putting away the groceries. “It’s three o’clock,” Jensen groans. “Isn’t it a little late for cereal?”

Jared doesn’t hear him. “Dude, I’m so in love with you right now,” he says, pouring another bowl.

Jensen blinks. They don’t usually toss those words around. He stares at Jared for a minute.

“You want a bowl?” Jared asks, beaming.

He shakes his head but Jared keeps smiling.

Jensen starts to buy Cocoa Puffs every week.

\---

Occasionally, they fight.

Jensen’s feeding Sadie a piece of his sandwich when Jared comes in. “What the hell, Jensen? I asked you not to do that.”

“Calm down. It’s one piece of turkey,” Jensen says, sounding irritated.

Jared nudges Sadie away with his foot. “You trying to kill my dogs?”

Jensen narrows his eyes. “Fuck you,” he answers, and he walks out of the room.

Jared buys a case of beer the next day as an apology and laughs when he sees the case that Jensen bought sitting on the counter. “We okay?” Jensen asks.

“We’re always okay,” Jared smiles.

\---

“You spend too much time on YouTube,” Jensen tells him. “I don’t even understand half the shit you watch.”

“You don’t have to understand it,” Jared explains, not taking his eyes off the screen. “You’re just supposed to laugh at it.”

“But I don’t get it,” he says. “Why is the unicorn so irritable? And why am I the unicorn?”

Jared waves him away. “Stop analyzing. Let me watch it in peace.”

“You’ve seen it a hundred times,” Jensen complains. “How can it still be interesting?”

Jared shrugs. “You see me every day and I’m still interesting to you.”

Jensen concedes.

\---

“Forty three minutes,” is the first thing Jared hears in the morning.

“Forty three minutes?” he repeats.

Jensen holds up a stopwatch. “That’s how long it took you to get ready.”

Jared blinks. “Where did you get a stopwatch?”

“Found it yesterday next to my trailer,” he answers. Then, “Nineteen minutes showering, fourteen messing with your hair, and seven deciding between shirts.” He raises an eyebrow. “Only ninety seconds brushing your teeth.”

Jared shakes his head. “I’m ignoring you for the rest of the day.”

He hears a beep from the stopwatch. “I’ll see how long you last,” Jensen says.

\---

“The DVD player is broken,” he tells Jensen while they get ready for bed.

“Buy a new one,” Jensen says, shrugging.

“I like the old one,” Jared responds, almost whining.

“So buy a new one that’s just like the old one.” He looks at Jared. “Dude, don’t say something about the old one having personality or whatever. That’s ridiculous.”

Jared doesn’t say anything and Jensen shakes his head. “So predictable,” he mutters under his breath.

The next week, there’s a new DVD player sitting on the table with a Post-It that says, ‘Version 2.0, now with extra personality’.

Jared laughs.

\---

Over the hiatus, Jared calls a lot. Jensen answers every single time.

“It’s weird without you here,” Jensen tells him, lying on their couch.

They’re both quiet for a minute.

“I miss you,” Jared responds eventually. “I told you to come down here with me.”

“Nah,” Jensen says. “You need some alone time with your family.”

“I don’t,” he says. “I really don’t.”

Jensen doesn’t say anything.

“And you’re probably totally bored without me, aren’t you?” Jared continues. “I bet you’re bored.”

Jensen laughs softly and Jared knows him well enough to take it as Yeah, I miss you, too.

\---

Jensen’s scrounging for change and Jared follows him around the house. “What are you doing?” he asks.

“I want to get my car washed,” Jensen answers. “I need quarters.” He looks under the couch but comes up with nothing.

“Why don’t we do it here?” Jared suggests. “It’s free.”

An hour later, they’re soapy and soaking, Jared’s shirt clinging to his chest.

Jensen stands in the middle of the driveway, clutching a sponge in his hand and staring at Jared. “Best idea you ever had.”

“I know,” he agrees, and watches Jensen take off his shirt. “God, do I know.”

\---

“Let’s have a party,” Jared suggests while they sit in the backyard. “It’s been awhile since we did that.”

“No,” Jensen says immediately. “Bad idea.”

“You’re such a downer,” he says, rolling his eyes.

“No, I just remember you telling me, ‘Hey Jensen, next time I suggest a party, please remind me how not fun it is to clean vomit off of our toilet’ and I agreed.”

“We’ll make sure no one vomits,” Jared tells him, shrugging.

“Yeah, good luck with that,” he says but he lets the issue go. He’s never been any good at saying no to Jared.

\---

“How come you always drop your towel on the bathroom floor?” Jensen asks.

Jared shrugs in response. “Because I know you’ll pick it up.”

Jensen blinks, hanging the towel back on the rack. “Fine, I’m going to stop picking them up.”

“Sure,” he responds. “And I’m going to stop eating.”

But Jared doesn’t stop eating and Jensen doesn’t stop picking up the towels.

“See?” Jared tells him. “We have a routine. We’re predictable. We’re domestic.”

“And that doesn’t bother you?” he asks.

“That we’re domestic?” Jared asks back.

Jensen nods, can’t help smiling.

“Nope,” Jared answers. “Not even a little.”

\---

When the weather’s actually decent, they take the dogs outside for a few hours and have a couple of beers.

“Go clean up after your dogs,” Jared says, handing him a plastic bag.

“How come they’re my dogs when they do something bad but they’re your dogs when they’re behaving?”

Jared shrugs. “You can’t back out now, man. You’re part of the family.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Jensen complains. “But I should get the good stuff with the bad. It’s only fair.”

Jared leans back and settles into the grass. “You can have all of it,” he says casually. “All yours.”

\---

They get ready for a convention, one of the few that they have left.

“I’m going to tell them about us,” Jared says as he throws a few shirts into his suitcase. “I’m going to tell everyone.”

He can practically hear Jensen rolling his eyes. “No, you won’t.”

“No,” Jared sighs. “I won’t. But they all know anyway.”

“Yeah, that’s not my fault,” Jensen responds, eyebrow raised.

“Keep telling yourself that.”

Jensen ignores him.

“Fifty fifty,” Jared offers. “I’d say we’re both equally involved here.”

He shuts his suitcase and watches Jensen.

“Yeah,” Jensen quietly agrees. “That sounds about right.”

\---

Two days after they wrap the series, Jared sits on the couch and looks around the room. “It’s over,” he says, a little surprised. “I can’t believe it’s all over.”

Jensen laughs. “It’s not over. It’s just beginning.”

Jared leans back into the couch and feels Jensen settle next to him. “You know what I mean,” he says.

“Yeah, I know,” Jensen tells him. “But things are still going to be good from here on out. I promise.”

“I believe you,” Jared says quietly, eyes closing. “But it’ll be different.”

Jensen leans closer. “Maybe. But still good.”

“Yeah,” Jared agrees.

\---

When they move into their new house in L.A., they buy a king-sized bed.

“This is stupid,” Jensen says. “You always end up on my side of the bed anyway.”

Jared raises an eyebrow and says, “You complaining?”

“No,” he answers. “Just stating a fact.”

“Well, get used to it.”

“I’m used to it,” Jensen says.

“Good,” Jared responds meaningfully. “It’s pretty much always going to be that way.”

Jensen looks up from the two packs of pillowcases he’s holding and meets Jared’s eyes. They grin at each other in the middle of JC Penney.

They’re both okay with always.


End file.
